The Tube and the Clock

The default setting is a plane. The real setting is a tube with a clock. Build the tube, set the clock, fill it with snakes.

The structure of a session

The game begins in the middle of the flight, just before the snakes are released: the before-goddamned-snakes stage, or BGS. Nobody needs to roll for anything. It is a perfectly normal flight — bathroom trips, small talk, drinks, magazines. This stage is short, and it exists so the players can meet each other and state their Stories before the world goes to hell.

Then the snakes are released. Welcome to the after-goddamned-snakes stage, or AGS. From now on, every action other than dialogue requires a trait roll.

The clock

The snakes are always released at the midpoint of a trans-oceanic flight. This is a necessary rule, because otherwise the pilot could just land the plane and get rid of the snakes. The clock: the SnakeMaster rolls 2 dice to determine how many hours the flight has left — between 2 and 12. Every task-resolution check advances the clock by 15 minutes. Every snake attack advances it by 30 minutes. When the clock runs out, the plane lands: everyone who accomplished their Story is a winner; everyone who didn't is bitten by a snake and dies.

The exception that keeps it aloft

Creative SMs invent reasons the plane cannot land early:

• A cross-country flight with a gigantic snowstorm — the pilot can't land anywhere but the destination.
• A cross-country flight where the pilot gets bitten — the plane can't be landed without help.

Your scenario needs one of these. The exception is requirement one in action: the characters cannot leave until conditions are met, and those conditions are beyond their control.

Building a new tube

A new location is a new container for the same rules. The Location file gives you type, description, and atmosphere — use them:

• type — what kind of container it is: plane, train, cruise ship, zeppelin, office tower, wedding.
• description — what is in it, and what is wrong with it. Where do the creatures hide? What can the players grab?
• atmosphere — the horror-as-comedy wash: the cramped aisles, the recycled air, the first scream.

The starter project ships with Flight 714 as a worked example — type, atmosphere, and description all filled in, with the key spots noted. Model your tube on it.

Every new location must answer three questions: Why can't they leave? Where can the creatures emerge from? What happens when the clock runs out? If you can't answer all three, the location isn't finished.